Top 10 most community-minded U.S. companies

Some of the largest companies in the United States also have some of best programs that aim to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business.

That's the finding from a new survey from Bloomberg LP (with the help of the National Conference on Citizenship and Points of Light) that ranked the top 50 S&P 500 companies. The Civic 50, as they're called, had their civic engagement programs ranked using seven metrics: leadership, measurement and strategy, design, employee civic growth, community partnerships, cause alignment and transparency. (See an explanation of the methodology here.)

Here's the top 10:

IBM
Citigroup
AT&T
Aetna
Capital One Financial Corporation
Morgan Stanley
Campbell Soup Company
The McGraw-Hill Companies
General Electric
Hasbro

Some statistics from the survey:

Last year, IBM’s 430,000 employees spent 3.2 million hours volunteering
The top 5 companies provided $1.5 billion in grant support to community organizations, 17.5 million volunteer hours, and $150 million in matching donations
Two-thirds of the Civic 50 say they “frequently” or “always” use the professional skills of their workforce to address social issues and real community challenges
66 percent of the Civic 50 work with community partners on the highest strategic level, not just on individual programs or events

"The Civic 50 demonstrates that the best companies in America are deeply committed to strengthening their respective communities," said Ilir Zherka, executive director of the National Conference on Citizenship, in a statement. "Leaders of these companies are aligning the expertise of their companies and people with the needs of their communities, and then measuring the impact of their programs. NCoC hopes The Civic 50 will spur companies throughout our country to do the same.”

See the complete list here.

Volunteerism as a Core Competency [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Photo: Flickr/ibmphoto24

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com